Water Chemistry Results From Each Site Over the Seasons

Use this link to see the results of our water chemistry tests at each site over the seasons. It is easy to see that the water quality is better in the Spring after the Winter rains than in the fall after a long dry summer. The rains function as a big flush sending all the runoff out to sea. Good for our creeks but bad for the ocean and our channel islands.

Results 2010-2011

Water Chemistry Results Spring 2011

Use the following link in order to view our water testing results from Spring of 2011. It is easy to see that the water is cleaner upstream than downstream. The only bump here was that our coliform test was a bit higher at the mid-point than at the bottom of the creek.

Spring 2011 Results

Project Fair Sharing

Listen in to what the students have been learning this year at our Home Based Partnership Project Fair. These kids are good!

Pacific Mole Crab

by Chloe

The Pacific Mole Crab is a kind of sand crab that is very small and gray. It can grow to be up to 35 mm long and 25 mm wide. The female is larger than a male and it may have bright orange eggs or short threads near the telson. The males are smaller than the female and they both can be tan too.

They live on sandy beaches from Alaska to Baja California.  They bury themselves in the sand.

The mole crab’s predators are fish, water birds, and shore birds. That is why they live underneath the sand.

In our Watershed class we measure their length, count how many there are, and chart the data. We also check to see if the females have eggs. We enter the data on the LiMPETS website.

I think mole crabs are so cool because of how they dig in the sand. They dig with their back legs, moving backwards. They dig so fast that if you look away and you look back they might seem to disappear. Their quickness makes them hide from their predators quickly.

Nine Inches of Rain in 24 Hours

This is what our quiet little creek looks like during a Noahmic rain event.

Trash in Our Creek

by Nashat

Lots of people put trash in our creek. This can affect our creek in many ways. One reason is that if people put plastic bags or any other types of trash in our creeks it will sail into the ocean, and some fish think that those plastic bags are their food, and then they eat it, which is very bad. Also, when people are washing their cars and they’re using soap, sometimes the soap has chemicals, and some of those chemicals go into the creek and down into the ocean, and some of the sand crabs living down there eat it. It actually doesn’t affect them, but birds that eat them, such as pelicans, can be harmed. Pelicans stand on their eggs they don’t sit on them, and when they eat those chemicals (DDT) their eggshells are not hard. When they try to stand on them, the eggs become squashed. Just because of this, one whole species of pelicans almost died out. Long ago, the Native Americans could drink from the creek water. That was because in that time the creek wasn’t contaminated. Today we can find soda bottles, steel, plastic bags, and paper in our creek. These trashes have damaged our creek in many ways, and will eventually affect the ocean.

Water Chemistry Results Winter 2011

Use the following link in order to view our water testing results from Winter of 2011. It is easy to see that the water is cleaner upstream than downstream.

Winter 2011 Results

Turbidity - How Do We Test For It?

I’m Katie. I’m a part of Ocean Guardians. I’m going to tell you about the turbidity tube. First thing you need to know is the four parts of the turbidity tube. The parts are a clear tube, a tube cap, a viewing disc, and a measuring device. To use the tube, fill it with water from the creek until you can no longer see the viewing disc at the bottom of the tube. Then look at the side of the tube and use the measuring device to measure the turbidity. If the water is murkier the higher the turbidity is. This is how you measure the turbidity using the turbidity tube.

Turbidity - What's That All About?

by Caleb

I am a student in the Home Based Partnership Ocean Guardians class. We go down the Maria Ygnacio creek to test the water. One of these test is turbidity, turbidity is measuring how clear the water is. The greater the turbidity the murkier the water is. Solids vary from clay, silt and plankton, industrial waste and sewage.

If the water is dirty, how does it affect the ecosystem? When the turbidity is higher it affect the organisms in the creek. The particles floating in the water absorbs heat from the sunlight, which causes the water to become warmer. Warmer water holds less oxygen. A lack of sunlight causes some bugs to die because they’re is not enough oxygen in the water.

Pacific Mole Crab at Goleta Beach

Acorn Woodpecker

by Chloe

The Trouble with Trash

by Lauren

I would like to explain how trash affects our creeks and bodies of water. When people litter, they leave trash on the ground, right? Well, when the rains come, all that trash and litter gets washed into our creeks and oceans. When it gets in our creeks, it flows down until it meets the ocean. Then the trash gets pushed out to the islands where sea creatures and other animals that live on the islands eat. When they eat this trash, depending on if it’s aluminum, plastic, metal, etc., they can die from it. This makes me very sad when I see litter on the ground. I would very much like it if no one EVER littered, but how can we stop these people? Easy, when you find any trash on the ground or even in our lakes, pick it up! It’s really that simple, only, you have to continually do this. Someday, I wish that everyone would be nice to our lovely, wonderful, earth and not litter. I hope that this has inspired you to help with this issue. Thank you for listening to what I had to say.

Native and Invasive Creek Plants

Sycamore Sprouts

by Nashat

Plants that live near the creek can affect the creek in many ways. Most native plants are beneficial to the creek. The Arroyo Willow tree and the Western Sycamore are very good for the creek. Little animals such as fish, frogs, and crayfish that live in the creek get oxygen from the willow and sycamore. However, there are some plants that are invasive and take up the space of the good plants, so the little animals in the creek can’t get enough oxygen. Some examples are Cape Ivy, a plant that has seven point leaves, and Periwinkle, with light purple flowers.

Cape Ivy

Periwinkle

Coyote Skull

by Ryan

Our class went on a field trip to do water testing at the lower part of Maria Ygnacio creek. When we were doing the water testing, I saw a skull in the water. I got it out of the water and didn’t know what kind of skull it was. I took it to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum and I found out it was a coyote skull. At first, I thought it was a raccoon skull but it wasn’t. It was fun to find it and figure out what kind if skull it was. :) Here is the skull in a picture and a skull with a bottom jaw.


Aren’t these awesome!